Why USWNT believes Rose Lavelle is primed for World Cup encore

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — The World Cup is the perfect stage for an introduction.

Like Brandi Chastain in 1999, Carli Lloyd in 2015 or Megan Rapinoe in 2019, a soccer player here has the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catapult her career with the right performance.

Rose Lavelle knows that. 

Four years ago, then a 24-year-old central midfielder for the United States women's national team but mostly unknown to the average fan, Lavelle had a breakout moment to seal victory in the World Cup final. 

The U.S. held a narrow 1-0 lead over the Netherlands — the same team it ironically faces in the second match of the 2023 group stage Wednesday in Wellington, New Zealand (coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET, with kickoff at 9 p.m. on FOX and the FOX Sports app) — when Lavelle found herself alone on the ball near midfield with space in the 69th minute. 

She dribbled with pace, took on Dutch defender Stefanie Van der Gragt, and when she reached the top of the penalty box, Lavelle took a powerful left-footed shot that soared past goalkeeper Sar Van Veendendaal. The force of the shot caused Lavelle to fall down after smacking the ball, but when she saw it go into the net, she jumped into teammate Alex Morgan's arms and screamed.

The goal clinched back-to-back World Cup titles for the Americans. Lavelle earned the Bronze Ball as the third-best player in the tournament and was named to the FIFA FIFPro World XI, officially establishing herself as one of the USWNT's most exciting players for the future.

The thing about having a breakout moment in the World Cup, though, is it naturally leads to questions about what you do next. For Lavelle, expectations haven't been the same since. Can she build on that 2019 moment and become an everyday star to